Another problem is the feed lips are only slighty raised above the rest of the mag, the rounds feed out a semi-circle cutout in the front of it. To reverse the feed over the body you would need some sort of short tower and that means the normal follower won't push the last round(s) up far enough to feed.

Why not just bolt the top half of any single stack magazine to the calico magazines? Then for the follower, just add 3-4 dummy rounds to take up the extra room. This seems way too simple though, I'm probably missing something.

Why not just bolt the top half of any single stack magazine to the calico magazines? Then for the follower, just add 3-4 dummy rounds to take up the extra room. This seems way too simple though, I'm probably missing something.

Even a feed tower that's only 2 or 3 rounds (maybe 4?) tall should work. You could also have it setup so when the last round is fed the first dummy stops short so the bolt doesn't hit it.

"Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem" Ronald Reagan

Why not just bolt the top half of any single stack magazine to the calico magazines? Then for the follower, just add 3-4 dummy rounds to take up the extra room. This seems way too simple though, I'm probably missing something.

The Calico mags split where the feed lips are, when the mag comes apart a feed lip is on each half. You would have to make the feed tower easily removed. There isn't much of anything to attach it with, though. The mag walls are pretty thin. Best solution would be to make a mold to cast new outer shells with the tower molded in. Expensive though.

Y'know, if you wanted to use the Calico magazine without modification, you could make your own inverted receiver bullpup configuration... the centerline between the hammer and trigger pins and the barrel shouldn't be too tall to be a problem, and the magazine could tuck into the bottom of the stock.

I can't seem to figure out how to get Gimp to draw curved lines, but these three blocks show the basic layout. Without the gas piston and using a flatter bolt/carrier unit, the mag could snuggle right up to the correct position to feed the chamber.

Think taking a Calico pistol, inverting it, and implementing it with a bent sheet metal receiver. Of course, with a buttpad, pistol grip, and other minor details, my artistic masterwork would look even better...

Your welcome.
I was looking at Pookie's site and it looks like the Calico mags would be a good donor, the price of them is what makes it hard to try it though. If I remember right the mag body is the costly part. Maybe use a mag body as a template and make up a new shell, mold your own or something like that, but use original Calico internals?

"Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem" Ronald Reagan